The wetland, which includes Lake Kwania, the even larger Lake Kyoga, and other water bodies and swamps, consists of about 3,420 square kilometres (1,320 sq mi) of open water and about 2,180 square kilometres (840 sq mi) of permanent swamps.

Of this total, Lake Kwania accounts for 540 square kilometres (210 sq mi), about 16 percent, of the open water.

By the late 1960s, the introduced species made up about 80 percent of the commercial catch from Lake Kyoga, Kwania's near neighbor.

Although civil unrest, overfishing, and infestations of water hyacinth (later brought under control) at times curtailed the fishing, by the mid-1990s Lake Kwania had 34 landing sites and a fleet of about 1,500 planked canoes operated by about 4,500 fishers.

[1] In addition to the introduced fish—Nile perch and Nile tilapia—that dominate the lakes, native species including Victoria tilapia, also live in these waters.